assumptions

Ken Baake (2003) relied on music theory to explain how metaphor functions in science. To Baake, musical notes are akin to metaphors in that they come with “baggage”: harmonics. Harmonics are “tones that sound in addition to the fundamental tone when a note is played” (p. 7-8). Baake explained that metaphors, much like music notes, communicate a primary meaning but a collage of partials or “overtones” necessarily accompany this “fundamental tone.” By virtue of their associative nature, metaphors, he observed, necessarily convey multiple dimensions of meaning. I would like to direct attention to another one of metaphor’s adjuncts: the assumptions that underpin them.

According to Kenneth Burke (1957), metaphors are (among other things) strategies that “size up situations, name them in a way that contains an attitude toward them” (p. 3). That is, metaphors can help shape attitudes towards the subjects or spaces they describe. Nordstrom has trademarked a portion of its website as "the world's biggest shoe store" (Nordstrom shoes, 2004). “Store” is a metaphor for this largely virtual space. Identifying the space as a store helps to define attitudes toward it, to motivate actions within the space (e.g. shopping), and to discourage others (e.g. using the “Live Help” chat feature to ask for personal advice).